DES MOINES --Newt Gingrich
offered a robust defense of his views on the Middle East, his lucrative
work after leaving Congress and his conservative credentials during a
spirited debate here on Saturday night as his Republican presidential
rivals urged voters to take a hard look at his candidacy.

With only three weeks remaining before the Iowa caucuses open the Republican nominating contest, Mitt Romney raised questions about Mr. Gingrich's temperament, saying that by making a claim in a recent interview that the Palestinians were an "invented people," Mr. Gingrich had thrown "incendiary words into a place which is a boiling pot."